Buying a Movie vs Downloading a Movie

[Thorin]

You know, I'm willing to bet I own movies that I've also downloaded, just to skip the damn trailers...



source: http://i.imgur.com/GxzeV.jpg

[Darren Dirt]

I wait until the "bargain bin", often the previews/trailers that are "unskippable" are now skippable.

Plus I refuse to pay anything more than 10 bucks for a DVD, which a New Release *always* is ... When I do buy the physical media, I go in knowing I'm really paying for the extra Featurettes and subtitling, the only things that aren't easily found online (since I really only use Streaming sites, I avoid Torrents and the like).

[Mr. Analog]

Honestly? I download movies I own because it's less hassle.

I bought a new DVD player that streams a variety of video formats including MKV right to my TV, this renders DVDs virtually obsolete. I have a vast collection (vast!) but I'm sick of it taking up space. I can box up all my DVDs and put them away with this solution.

That's the world in which I live now.

[Lazybones]

My 2TB NAS is the size of about 3DVD cases and I can search Netflix in seconds to watch many titles.

I hardly watch the DVDs I do have.... I don't even need to getup to watch a different movie if I stream vs digging around in my DVD collection.

[Mr. Analog]

That's pretty much where I'm at with my collection, unless it's something I absolutely must have a copy of I think the days of me owning physical media are dwindling.

[Thorin]

Honestly? I download movies I own because it's less hassle.

That's pretty much what that image is saying, isn't it?

I agree with everyone here who says it's just way easier to download / stream than to bother getting physical media.  Another upshot with electronic copies, they don't get scratched.

The only downside to electronic copies right now is that you can't stream 'em from your home device to the in-car entertainment system; physical media is still necessary there.  Of course, even then the downloaded-with-no-warnings-or-menus version can be burnt to a disc and is quicker to start up than the one bought at the store.

[Melbosa]

Some in-car and out-of-home systems take USB connected devices now to watch data, which means you can just use a usb storage device in home and out.  Wireless N also can do HD content if you are looking for that, so you could modify any system to work with Wireless, just takes $$$.

[Darren Dirt]

Honestly? I download movies I own because it's less hassle.

That's pretty much what that image is saying, isn't it?

I agree with everyone here who says it's just way easier to download / stream than to bother getting physical media.  Another upshot with electronic copies, they don't get scratched.

I think the quality of physical media isn't as important nowadays (with higher speed home/backbone network connections, thus allowing HD content to stream decently) and even *I* will only buy physical media if it is (a)containing a bunch of extras I actually want to watch, i.e. featurettes beyond a single 10 minute "how they did that one scene you saw in the trailer) and (b)a super-frugal price point.

I have RE-WATCHED many Arrested Development episodes online via streaming websites, not caring about the quality of certain sources, the content was the reason I kept going back... BUT I still refuse to buy Arrested Development on DVD. The retail price simply prevents me from picking up the physical media.

And yet I bought the "Dilbert" TV series on DVD cuz it worked out to like 60 cents an episode.

I also bought the entire X-Files series, season by season, at $19.99 a pop, from Future Schlock about 2 years ago ... and over a couple of months watched every single episode with my son, as a planned, shared experience.

Even though in theory nearly 200 bucks for a *TV SHOW* seems kinda ridic, we are both very glad I decided to make that investment, it was something we will both look back on as a special time we shared (much of the last 5 seasons were ones I had never seen before watching on DVD).

So... physical media = not quite dead yet. It's just resting.

[Mr. Analog]

I think the main benefit with physical media is you can use it without too much infrastructure. I mean, if I wanted to lug my Drobo and a laptop somewhere just to watch a movie it's a bit of a pain, not like say just grabbing a DVD case and bringing it with me. Same deal with lending people stuff.

I think the main thing that needs to go is DRM. If the industry just let me buy stuff at a reasonable price/quality and ensured that things like thumb drives would "just work" in any new TV or video machine I'd be a happy camper.